Conditions of Knowledge: Special

Japanese women's literature occupies a unique position within the field of world women's literature. It is generally highly regarded in international literary awards and is considered influential in the course of global literary creativity, particularly in the field of the novel, as well as in distinctive forms of written art such as Haiku poetry.

In the second half of the tenth century, specifically around one thousand years ago, the first women's novel in Japan and the first novel by a woman in the world, The Tale of Genji (Genji-Monogatari), was written by the poet and novelist Murasaki Shikibu. She lived during the most flourishing period in the history of Japanese women's literature, the Heian Period (794–1192). Today, Japan has a major literary award named after her:

Murasaki-Shikibu-bungaku-shou

Japanese women's literature experienced another revival after 1868, during Japan's modernization period known as the Meiji Period, following a decline and contraction that lasted for six centuries, from the twelfth century until the middle of the nineteenth century.

Japanese Development:

In his book The History of the Development of Modern and Contemporary Japanese Women's Literature, which consists of 320 medium-sized pages and was published by the Egyptian General Book Organization, Dr. Karam Khalil Salem points out that The Tale of Genji achieved both local and international fame and had a significant influence on Japanese women writers and novelists such as Yosano Akiko and Higuchi Ichiyo, who translated the novel into modern Japanese, as well as Enchi Fumiko (1905–1986), Kakuta Mitsuyo, and others.

The author explains that most Japanese women writers address several elements within women's fiction, most notably the autobiographical element of the novelist, personal real-life experiences, and hidden psychological aspects. Women's fiction has presented various images of women in Japanese society, including the image of the loving and passionate woman and that of the submissive and resigned woman. After World War II in 1945, Japanese women's fiction emerged within a different system of values, calling for change, rejecting restrictions, and addressing women's contemporary issues and questions.

Artistic Characteristics:

The book consists of three sections and nine chapters. In the first section, the author presents a brief history of the development of Japanese women's literature, discussing the flourishing of women's literature and its beginnings, its decline during the medieval period, and its development during the pre-modern era. The second section discusses the history of the development of modern Japanese women's literature and includes two chapters on the revival of Japanese women's literature in the modern era.

In the third section, the author discusses the history of the development of contemporary Japanese women's literature. It covers the pioneers of contemporary Japanese women's literature, the pioneers of contemporary Japanese women's literature and atomic-bomb literature, as well as the artistic features and characteristics of Japanese women's literature, which is distinguished by a number of characteristics. Among the most notable are: Japanese women writers were the first to use the Japanese phonetic alphabet kana in literary writing; the use of symbols, metaphors, and similes to express emotional states indirectly; writing about the phenomenon of nihilism and transience; the emergence of an independent literary genre based on recording fleeting and scattered human reflections through literature; and a sensory and emotional connection with nature